Saturday, 18 May 2013

Stunning but stormy Stirling Ranges


With the taste of the mountains and a bit of wilderness fresh on our palates, we headed for the Stirling Ranges about 80km directly north of Albany. Little did we know that a fierce storm was coming in from the west. Not long after we arrived at our pleasant campsite in the middle of the Ranges, a Parks volunteer paid us a visit and advised that we should get out and have a look around before the nasty weather arrived in the afternoon/evening. We decided to get amongst it. 



We drove out to Knoll Bluff, the highest peak in south-west WA at 1095m. Jem fell asleep on the way, Trace’s knee had packed it in from our walk the day before and Rubes wasn’t interested in a partial ascent.



That left the big boy and me. It was already a little late in the day but we set off for a short walk at a quick pace. On the way up we met an older couple from NSW on their way down, they warned us it would be dark in a few hours - this didn’t stop us though. We trudged on, well we only planned to trek up for 30 minutes or so, as the others were waiting in the car. No sign of a storm, just beautiful vistas across the Range. After about 40 minutes and about a third of the way up with the imposing bluff towering above us, OJ and I made a pledge to return in the morning, weather permitting, to take the summit. 




We returned to the van cooked up a few chops and snags and got ready for the brewing storm. And did it come! Not so much rain, but winds that rocked the van and kept us up a good deal of the night. More of the same the following day with a little more rain. We packed up, left the van where it was and decided to take a scenic drive across the Range. Sloppy unsealed roads, a lot of low cloud, steady rain, no end in sight to the bad weather, and the decision was made - off to Denmark for the safety of a caravan park. Unfortunately, we never got the opportunity to conquer Knoll Bluff. 

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